Cooked feet.

JosephTree

Barefooters
Sep 7, 2010
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Near Valley Forge, PA
I admit it. I got a little cocky.

I've been running a comfortable 5 and 6 mile loop for the last month or so, and thought my feet were reasonably well seasoned. In fact I was thinking that each year the spring re-hardening of the feet has gotten quicker and quicker. I forgot about the sun.

Today was the first really nice day we've had in a while, with bright sun all day and temps up to the low 70's (F) I thought I'd have a lovely easy run of 6 miles on my favourite pavement trail. Within a couple miles I was aware that my feet were more than usually sensitive to the intemittant gravel on the trail and thought it was left over from the heavy rains we got last week. (Almost 5 inches in one evening.) The feet got unhappier every mile and I just couldn't understand it.

Finally the penny dropped! They were cooking, slowly but sorely. I also managed to step on 2 puncturing object whose identity I couldn't figure. End result - I walked the last couple hundred yards home (first time ever) and am still wincing as I walk.

I'll let you know how they recover overnight.
 
Ouchie momma! We need a hot foot smiley!
 
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Thanks for all the concern and good feedback. The feet were much better this morning except for the double punctures on my left foot. I slapped a plaster and some antibiotic ointment on it this morning and expect rapid healing.

Sr. Yuca, even I can run on much hotter surfaces, if I give myself time to acclimate. As Swoggis suggested, it wasn't really that hot...just hot enough to get to me yesterday after a relatively cool spring. Maybe being just a couple hours earlier, at the height of the sun contributed, too.

Live and learn.

...and I don't have time to read Acuah's piece, but will this evening when I'm home.
 
This should give some insight into your question: http://ahcuah.wordpress.com/2013/06/28/the-seri-boot/

Wow! The Seris! I hadn't seen that article from Ahcuah. They practically live around the corner. My home city, Hermosillo, is actually mentioned on that piece (although its name is misspelled as "Hermosilla").

They have their own towns -all of them along the coast- and the largest mexican island (Isla del Tiburón, Shark's Island) is protected Seri territory. They're more famous around here due to their crafts, which are made of a very hard wood called Palofierro (ironwood). I think Born to Run also mentioned them as one of the tribes that used to do persistence hunting, but the Tarahumara are much more famous nowadays, around the world and also within Mexico. Ahcuah's article mentions that Seris, along with Papagos -another regional tribe- were actually faster runners than Tarahumaras, cool!

Nice find Ahcuah, as many others state here, I really enjoy your very well written and scientifically accurate articles, keep up the good work!
 
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In the heat your pretty limited...shift over to lighter colored pavement, the grass on side of the roads or just run on trails. The trails are just fine with me and during the summer I mostly run pavement early mornings or cloudy overcast days...just go with weather conditions.

On the other hand if you want to really test yourself on the hot stuff...find a paved road that has grass on the side and/or white painted lines...these have saved me many times when the feets are burning towards the end of a long summer run.
 
BB, That's a beautiful sight! Thanks for sharing.

I have runs that I can plan on using to stay in the shade, both for my feet and for the rest of my body. When I burned my feet the other day I just didn't think the day would have heated up things as much as it did.

Run well, friends!